Pais de Primeira Viagem: A Experiência da Paternidade na Meia-Idade.

This study aims to understand the developmental processes of men who have become fathers for the first time after age 40. Four fathers, between 44 and 58 years old, were interviewed through a life story approach and a semi-structured guide. Content analysis demonstrates that parenthood acknowledgement is closely related to parent's own perception about parenthood. Fathers' discourses highlight positive and negative aspects of parenthood on this life stage and also the importance to conciliate parental functions, conjugality and familiar and social relations. Parenthood in midlife is a phenomenon that compels us to analyse the different physical and cultural aspects of development, leading to the acknowledgement of the necessity of new research concerning this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]